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by TheDarkFlygon
Summary: It's still weird to wake up every day and realize once again that this is what her life has become. It really is. (Or: Ema discovers croissants and playing games together with her boyfriend.)


It's still weird to wake up every day and realize once again that _this_ is what her life has become. It really is.

The weirdest thing for Ema was to wake up in a well-furnished flat to the smell of pastries. She was more of a cereals-and-milk kind of gal when living alone, because it was easy to make and didn't cost her an A.I.'s arm to pull together and eat before delving into today's activities. To be fair, that was also because she was always lazy to make herself real breakfast. Cereals did the job perfectly fine, why put it more effort than that in it? Eating wasn't a very big deal anyway, compared to what she could use her brain and energy for. Hacking, spying, missions? Now that was the big, _real_ deal. The juicy stuff, if you will. The adrenaline thrill from the forbidden aspect of it all and the rewards from it exceeded just money to buy cup noodles.

But now, this is all different. When she wakes up, she doesn't have to worry about what kind of cereals she ate yesterday to make sure she mixes it up enough not to get bored of one flavour. Now, when she makes it to the dining room, she is greeted by a table with real breakfast food on it, whose smell is guaranteed to make someone hungry. With her sister-in-law gone to college, she knows it's all for the both of them, thus why it's little but still expensive enough for her to feel a bit awkward about the entire ordeal. She isn't used to being rich yet.

Of course, breakfast is long done by now, since she's on her laptop and he's next to her with yet another order from his boss to take a day off or… a thousand, because he can't be employee of the month every month. This is the only way they can force him not to come at work, so he gulps his pride down and she always laughs it off internally as not to offend him. You never know, with her boyfriend: sometimes, he is rather sensitive and irritable about some topics. That's why he's so fun to date, sometimes: it's easy to make him embarrassed and the Winged Dragon of Ra sure knows how much she loves to embarrass people. It's so easy, yet so fun: it's all a question of finding a new creative way to do it.

By definition, Akira is the guy who is always serious, always straight and always stiff, too much so in fact. It took her a while to soften to him because of this: but when he shines, he sure shines. When he gets concerned for his sister, when he dares show a bit less pristineness, when he worries for _her_ , that's when she kind of melts on the inside. Of course, she'd never show it: the always-cool Ghost Girl can't show she's weak for anyone, and especially not her former main hirer. She knows she shows her own softer sides when they're alone together: her messy bedhead hair, her unironic love for magical girl animes, her collection of pretty cards that suck in duels but are too pretty to pass up, her pink laced… Wait, scratch that one. The day Akira found those, she was redder than Flame.

"You look like you're bored beyond your mind," she asks him as she notices he's getting restless on his own computer. His screen? His emails. Again.

"I hadn't planned to have a day off today. How are you supposed to fill your time when you have nothing to do?"

"You're making days off sound like a chore. That's such a you thing to say," she deadpans back, wishing she could be disappointed about the situation.

"Then, perhaps you could teach me how to kill time when we're both here and free to do so?"

"You bet I can."

Before he knows it, she has already put out a few games on her laptop to show him around gaming. It's an old hobby that kind of went extinct with the rise of Link VRAINS and Duel Monsters in general, but she still practices it happily when she's not on a mission for some money. It's not because she lives with Mr Zaizen of SOL Technologies that she's decided to be a housewife that does nothing all day.

These games, she has collected them year after year, torrent after torrent, and buying the ones she genuinely enjoyed and loved. These games, she has had some of these since she was a child: they may not be Game of the Year-worthy, but their pixels and music is still dear to her and she will defend these one-on-one in the pit. There is an excitement to show these to her boyfriend, thinking about how she may be able to virtually kick his ass in her favourite fighting game. She'd have to get out of her old console for it, though, but it'll be worth it.

He asks her an infinite amount of questions about these games. God, the guy really hasn't caught a break since he was sixteen or so, he seems to just be discovering what fun is on a computer. The games that get Akira the most interested are, without a surprise, simulators. Her hospital simulator, an old thing from a century ago or so, is the most fascinating so far, so they play it together. She has to explain to him the point is to make a ton of money and not just to cure poor virtual patients, but once she does, he immediately gets the hang of it. She's the mouse and he's the instructions.

"Place a dispenser here, it'll attract people in queue for the doctor and it'll give us money."

"Put a fire extinguisher here, it'll kill the rats and we won't have to hire a new janitor to take care of that, then you sell it again or keep it place on another spot later."

His advice was always good, it always worked, and then she wondered why he wasn't into gaming in the first place. That guy had a gifted talent for simulation games.

"Hey, you're actually really good at these! You played them before, don't tell me otherwise," Ema tells him as she cannot retain inside her admiration, and yet her frustration and jealousy.

"Never," Akira replies seriously but with a slight smile when he notices how envious she's getting. "But if you want, we can finish this game together. It seems like we form a good tandem."

"Smartass… Yeah, works for me. Let's finish that game with your expert advice and my," she makes a dramatic pause before glancing at him, seductress eyes on, "professional clicking skills."

That gets him to flush. Mission accomplished.

There is one thing to get out of this afternoon of playing: Ema needs to play simulator games with him more often.


End file.
